Calendar.



W. E. LUDLOW.

CALENDAR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.-28,1913.

1,124,926. 1 Patehted Jan. 12, 191

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

THE NORRIS PETERS CO FHORFLITHOG WASQINGWN, D. C

" W. E. LUDLOW.

CALENDAR.

APPLIOATION nun) MAE.2B,1913.

1,124,926. Patented Jan. 12, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60., PHOTD LITHOH WASHINGTON, D. C.

WILLIAM LUDLOW, or CLEVEL ND, 01110..

CALENDAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 12, 1915.

Application filed March 28, 1913. Serial No. 757,387.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM E. LUnLoW, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and Stateof Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Calendars, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the v accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a calendar of the type in which the numeral indicating the date is changed each day by means of a suitable motor.

One of the objects is to provide a simple, compact calendar, which operates, upon the closing of an electric circuit, to bring successively into view numerals indicating the day of the month, the numeral shown being comparatively much larger with respect to the device than in mechanically operated calendars used heretofore.

To accomplish this I provide a calendar which utilizes a ribbon of suitable length, on which are arranged numerals indicating the days of the month, there being a motor for moving the ribbon to bring the numerals successively into view whenever released by the action of an electro-magnet, or by hand. The mechanism by which I carry this out, as well as various features contributing to the efliciency of the operation, constitute the present invention, as will become apparent in the following description and claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the mechanism with one side of the casing removed; Fig. 2 is a detail of one of the spools on which the ribbonis wound and the mechanism for operating it; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the driving mechanism, the near end of the casing being sectioned substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a detail of one of the brakes on one of the spools carrying the ribbon; Fig. 6 is a perspective of the device, showing a convenient, compact casing and the position of the numeral indicating the day of the month. g y

10, in the drawings, indicates a suitable casing for my device, which is closed at the top and bottom and on the four sides. One side, however, is an opening 11, which is covered by a suitable pane of glass 12, through which are seen the numerals indicating the days of the month. Suitably journaled at its ends in the plates 14 and '15 is a shaft 18, on which is rigidly secured a spool 19, whlch is the feeding spool for the merals indicating the days of the month.

ribbon 20, on which are marked. the nu- This spool is preferably made tubular for lightness, and has at each end a flange 21. A second spool 25 is carried on a shaft 26, suitably journaled at each end in the plates 14 and 15. This spool is similarto the spool 19 and has correspondingflanges 28 adapted to guide the ribbon.

Suitable rollers 29 and. 30 are carried .on shafts extending between the plates 14 and 15 and journaled at their ends in these plates, These rollers 29 and 30 are positioned near the front side of the casing 10 and guide the ribbon to bring it near the glass 12. The shaft 26, which. carries the spool 25, is engaged by flanged bearings 32 carried on the ends of the spool and is keyed to one of these flanges 32 by a small key 33, which is slidable in this flanged bearing.

The spool 25 is adapted to be driven by a suitable spring motor to wind the ribbon 20 on to itand off from the spool 19. This motor, indicated at 35, is a spring motor of the type ordinarily usedin clocks, and is carried by the plate 14. As shown, this motor has a spring 36 adapted to drive a gear 37, which, in turn, drives a train. of gears comprising a pinion 37 a gear37 a pinion 37, a gear 37 and a pinion 37 and a gear 37", and lastly a pinion 37 carried on the arbor which has a revolving fan to control the speed of the motor. These gears and pinions are carried on suitable arbors, which are journaled in two plates 39 and 40, comprising the sides or frame of the motor. 1 On the lower end of the plate 40 is secured a small plate 41, which has a bearing in axial alinement with the shaft 26. Journaled at one end in this bearing is a short shaft 43 carrying a small gear 44 rigid therewith and in engagement with the large gear 37. The other end of thisshaft 43 is re duced in diameter and is journaled in a piece of flat metalsecured to the plate 14. The reduced" end of the shaft 43 carries a small key 46 inside the bracket 45, which engages. a suitable key way in an enlarged end of the shaft 26. Thus, when the gear 37 is rotated by means of the spring 36, the shaft suitable bracket 45 made of a U1shaped plate 41, is a circular disk 48 having a notch 49 in its periphery. A lever 50 is pivoted at 51 to the plate 40 and carries a flat finger 5 52, which is adapted to ride on the periphery of the disk 44 and drop into the notch 49 whenever thisnotch comes under this finger 52. Pivotally attached to the lever 50 at 53 is. a rod 54.-extending vertically adjacent the. plate40. and guided by a suitable bracket 55, through which it passes, this bracket 55 being. secured=totheplate 40 at its upper corner. Secured-to the upper end of this rod-54 is .a short L-shaped arm having one portion substantially in the plane of the plate :40, andanother portion, indicated at 57 in Figs. 1 and 3 at substantially right angles to. this plate 40.

' Carried on the arbor which carries the pinion 37 is an arm 59 adapted, at times, to engage the stop 57 carried by the rod '54. When the'lever' 50 is raised, as shown in the drawings, the projection 52 is raised out of the notch :49 and the spring 36 is permitted torotate the disk '48 and the arm 59, as described. As the disk is rotated with the shaft .143, the spool-25 is alsorotated. To raise: thelever'50fiby-closing an electric circuit, I have provided a magnet 60 having a pivoted. armature 66 having an extension 67 engaging a notch- 68 in the lever 50. This notch hasone sloping side, as shown, and, whenever: the armature 66 is drawn toward themagnet, thelever 50 willbe cammed to its raisedv positionshown in Fig. 3.

.Whenthe spool-'25has made one revolution, the notch 49 will again be brought under the finger 52. and the lever 50 will drop,. causing the rod 54 and the stop 57 to drop -also, bringing the stop 57 into thepath of the end of the arm '59. The engagement of the arm 59 with the stop 57 stops the motor and takes the strain off the finger 52. As shown, the magnet 60 is-inounted on a plate 70, having suitable binding posts 71 to which the wires leading to the magnet areattached. Made. solid with thisplate 7 0, is an arm 73 leading upwardly and then diagonally toward theplate 14, to which it is secured at 7 4. The bottom or-lower edge of this plate is shown as secured to an angle piece 7.5 carried on the'bottom of the casing 10.

Carried on a suitable platform-76 secured to the, plate15 at one edge and resting upon aniupright. member :77, which, in turn, rests upon thebottom of the casing, is a battery 7 8,whichsupplies the current for energizing; the magnet. .60. Leading "from I this battery 78 tothe magnet-60, are wires 80 and 81, shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1. ()n the ,wire 81 is a, suitable switch adapted to close the circuit to energize the magnet, and, as shown, it is of the type of the ordinary vpush button. This switch is shown in sectionin Fig. 2 and has a contact plate. 85 and a spring contact 86 adapted to be pressed against the plate 85 by means of a plunger 88 carried in the casing 89. This switch may be located at any. convenient point, and is usually distant from the casing; it is shown on the casing for convenience of illustration. It will be seen that whenever the circuit is closed through the magnet and the armature 66 drawn toward the magnet creasing amounts to compensate for the effective enlarging of the spool as the ribbon winds onto it.

Thus it will be seen. that to use this, calendar satisfactorily, it is onlynecessary to close thecircuit to operate the mechanism once a day. After thirty or thirty-one operations,-the ribbon will all be wound from the spool 19 130 the spool 25, having shown each of-the days in succession throughout the month. Then, to rewind. the calendar to begin a month, the shaft 26 is disconnected from the shaft 43 and the spool l9 rotated by'hand.

As heretofore stated, the shaft 26 is made slidable in the journals 32 of the spool 25, and the key 33 is adapted to slide in its key way in one. of the journals 32. The shaft 26 is engaged by the key 46 on the shaft 43, and may be moved to slide off from this key by pulling the shaft lengthwise of the spool 25. At the opposite end, the shaft 26 has a reduced diameter 90 and a head 92 adjacent to this neck. A yoke 93 in the form of a box having two sides open, has one side journaled on the neck 91 and engaging the head 92. Carried rigid on the other side is a threaded extension 95 in axial alinement with the shaft26. Screwed on to the end of this extension 95 is a plunger 96 to which is pivotally attached a lever ,97. A plate 98 having av bearing 99- for the plunger 96'has also a suitable support for the pivot 10.0 of the lever"97. Now, when the lower end of the lever '97 is pressed toward the casing, the plunger96 and the yoke 93 and the shaft 26 are moved tOthe right andthe shaft 26'is thereby drawn out of engagement with the key 46 on the shaft 43, thus permitting this spool 25 to rotate freely. A flexible metal strip 101 may be secured to the bottom of the casing 10 and extend through the yoke 93 to prevent its turning with the shaft 26. On the inside of the spool is a spring 102 surrounding the shaft 26 and engaging the pin 103. This spring 102 is adapted to press the shaft 26 toward the shaft 4.3 to keep the key 46 in engagement with its key way.

The shaft 18 of the spool 19 is extended at one end and carries a pin 105, which may be engaged by a slot in the socket of a suitable crank-wrench 106. After the shaft 26 is disengaged from the shaft 13 the crank 106 is inserted so that it engages its pin 105 and the spool 19 is then rotated by means of the crank 106, to wind back the ribbon 20 from the spool 25 to the spool 19 until the numeral 1 is brought in front of the glass 12 indicating the first day of the month.

In order that the ribbon 20 may be stretched tightly between the rollers 29 and 30 to present a neat appearance, I have provided brakes on the spool 19 so that, as the ribbon is drawn from this spool to the spool 25, it will be kept taut. These brakes comprise brake-drums 107 carried on the ends of the spool 19. Bearing against these brake drums are brake shoes 108 (Fig. 5), each having a curved surface engaging the drum 107, and held pressed against this drum by means of a suitable spring 109. The tension of this spring 109 may be changed by a suitable adjusting screw 110 threaded through a clip 111 carried by the upper edge of the plates 14 and 15.

In case it becomes necessary to trip the motor mechanism by hand, I have provided a pin 112 carried by a lever 114C suitably pivoted at 115 to the end of the casing 10. The pin 112 extends through a suitable slot in the end of the casing, and one end stands over the end of the lever 50 to the right of the pivot 51, so that, when this pin 112 is depressed it will press downwardly on the end of the lever 50 and raise the finger 52 from the notch in the disk e8. This lever is indicated in dot and dash lines in Fig. 3.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that I have provided a neat, com, pact calendar showing a large size figure,

floplea 0! thin patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patent:,

and one which may be adapted for many practical uses. It is adapted, for example, to be placed high on a wall, or in other comparatively inaccessible places, as it only needs rewinding once a month.

My device is particularly well adapted to be used in office buildings and hotels where any number of calendars may be arranged on one circuit, and each morning an attendant may close this circuit and operate all of the calendars to bring fresh numerals into view.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The combination of a casing, a pair of spools therein having shafts, a ribbon running from one spool to the other, a motor mechanism adapted -to engage the shaft of one of the spools to wind the ribbon off of the other spool, a yoke engaging a groove in the last named shaft, a spring finger se cured to the casing extending into the said yoke to prevent the rotation thereof, and a lever mounted on the outside of the casing for drawing the shaft of the driven spool longitudinally to disconnect it from the'motor, whereby the ribbon may be wound back on the other spool.

2. The combination of a casing, a pair of spools therein each having a shaft, a ribbon running from one spool to the other, a motor mechanism adapted to engage the shaft of one of the spools to wind the ribbon off from the other spool, a yoke engaging the groove in the shaft of the last-mentioned spool, a spring finger secured to the casing and ex tending into said yoke to prevent the rotation thereof, a plunger mounted in the casing and threaded to said yoke, a lever mounted on the outside of the casing and attached to said plunger for drawing the driven spool longitudinally todisconnect it from the motor, whereby the ribbon may be wound back on the other spool, and a spring on the shaft of the driven spool tending to press the shaft into engagement with its driving means. i

In testimony whereof, I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

. WILLIAM E. LUDLOW.

Witnesses:

JUs'rrN IV. MAGKLIN, BRENNAN B. WEST.

Washington, D. 0. 

